Lady Gaga

I decided to look up the etymology of 'gaga'.

The most common usage is overenthusiastic to the point of irrationality. However, it's lesser common use means senile. The etymology of this is french hospital slang meaning senile bed wetter.

I feel like writing this to Lady Gaga's fanbase inbox. I think she'd be amused to know. :)

Google Street View (2): Privacy-Much

So a colleague at work showed me this street view of a lady whose face is not blurred. This answers my question of how all faces and license plates are blurred. Based on this image, the blurring of faces and plates is done by a computer programme. I know this because facial recognition programmes cannot recognize faces without the eyes. Therefore, any one with sun glasses or otherwise covered eyes does not have a "face". This is further proven by the fact that the lady standing with her has a blurred face. If a geography student was systematically blurring faces, quite obviously, both faces would be recognized in this photo and would be subsequently blurred.

This raises a privacy concern, since this lady is recognizable to any one who knows her, or knows what she looks like. We also know from this that she goes to Star Bucks (the Ogilvy location) and that she did this in approximately June 2009. Since these images were taken on sunny days, I can only imagine that there are many other people whose faces are not blurred. Have you found any privacy blips?

Today's Lesson: Eyes are the window into our souls, and our privacy.

Google Street View

While searching for the approximate location for my Friday night outing, I accidentally, zoomed into Google Maps Street View. I have been hearing about this in the news, but assumed is was not much different than Google Earth satellite photos. However, seeing is believing [read: amazing]. Of course, license plates and faces are blurred, but the resolution is fine enough that I can look inside peoples cars.

This image of a man staring at the photographing machine, reminds me of the video screens in the distopian novel 1984. That may not be a surprising statement. Certainly, that is not an original statement. However, I do not say it lightly. Reading that book made me realize that Orwell was indeed writing about present times. We are already within the confines of culture where 'private information' is zilch.

These are the times, but should I get used to it, and roll with the punches. Not worrying as much about my privacy, or alternatively, worrying more about my privacy, but accepting I will always have to be diligent about maintaining or controlling my privacy.

My friend Ryan seems to have opted out of information prying technology for the most part. He owns no cell phone, no home phone, and no internet. The only way to contact him is by mail, if you new his address (which isn't listed in the PHONE book). When I asked him how I should get a hold of him, he said he checks his email on Sundays when he visits his parents, but that for the winter, he'll check less often. I know his approximate geographical location, but to maintain a certain point of mystery, I did not ask him his address. Perhaps, I'll see if he was walking the streets the day they took the Google Street View pics.

Looking at the pic above makes me wonder if they hired an army of geography student interns to blur ppls faces and license plates, or if some computer programme was created to detect face and plate structures and blur them automatically. Hmmm.

Today's Lesson: I should start closing the blinds when walking the house nude.

Down Town Ottawa

At some time in the past, I have written about famous bums in Ottawa.

This morning I heard the news about one of my most favorite bums. I'm sure you must have seen him before on Rideau Street. He was the man whose legs and fingers were amputated, and he was so friendly! It turns out he is an Inuit artist doing tapestries (a traditionally female Inuit art) and he also painted. Some of his works are also hanging in the NAC. This is not necessarily surprising as most great Canadian artists were/are bums and drug addicts.

See film:

Ryan

Any how I wanted to share this CBC News story about a similarily creative man who lived on the streets for 20 years.

Inuit Artist Normee Ekoomiak Dies

Euro Memoires: Volume 3

As you might imagine the flight was very long. As it was an overnight flight, we did not sleep. We were very tired and when we arrived we had to wait three hours before we could check in. We were so dead tired that this was the most terrible three hours of the whole trip. We just sat on a bench outside the hostel until we could go inside and nap.

Our feelings were "we hate it here and we want to go back home".

This was also coupled with the fact that we could not find any pay phones. All the pay phones in traveling and hostels are overseas phones and you are only to call long distance with these phones.

Later, we were told that there are pay phones in Paris. There do, however, require a special calling card, and of course are not as obvious as the red Dr. Who booths in London.

Because of our inability to call Stephanie on the phone or to get into a bed on arrival, the high frustration in Paris was only a primer for dislike Eric and I would have for Paris on our return near the end of the trip.

Bytown Museam a Must

Wednesday was a lovely day, not just because of the weather but because my lover treated me to entry into the Bytown Museum. Located along the canal near Parliament stands a historical building: 1826 tool shed gone 2007 UNESCO World Heritage Site.

My childhood memories of this building were vague, but yesterday I was blown away. This is a great museum for all ages. It gives a great history of the making of Ottawa city which centered around the building of the canal.

I must say that the design of the museum blends the feel of entering into the historic time using modern museum technology.

There is even cute things for the kids, like dress-up.

The best part is it's only $6 bucks to get in.

The artifacts are curious and intriguing.

Not to mention the temporary exhibit called Karsh of Ottawa which displays current photos of historic buildings in Ottawa.

There is not one thing that I dislike about this museum. I deem it the best in OTTAWA!

Euro Memoires: Volume 2

So as you may have heard me complain about in April, planing the trip was not all that much fun.

Lori Quote "I need a vacation from planning my vacation"

Vicky's way of traveling: Book your time off work. Don't do any planning. Only just b4 your break do you see where you're flying to. This avoids all that dumb stress that comes with pre-planning.

WORD OF ADVICE: Travel Cut's Sucks! it flat sucks!

The long and the short of it is that Eric and I went to book our super cheap flight. We checked the dates and signed, but we were wrong.

When we come back to make changes, Alain, the agent you must never NEVER go to gave us such bad customer service.

When I came in to change it he said that we did not have to stay because it would take an hour to be on the phone with the air line to change the flight. Eric asked if we could make the phn call, but Alain said no. We said that we would wait for his phn call that day. He made no mention of making this phn call another day.

Eric waited for 3hrs at my house until Travel Cut's closed.

The next day he went in, and Alain said he'd try to get around to it tomorrow.

I was PISSED!

I marched right in there and told Alain that I deserved a time line. He told me it was very busy and that "he had customers to serve."

WHAT?!?! I AM your customer!

I told him that this was time sensitive because I didn't want to flights to be booked. He told me it was "my problem."

MY PROBLEM?!?!?

First of all, he is the one who made the typing error for our flight.
Secondly, the whole point of going to a travel agency is so that they can take care of this kind of thing when there is a mishap, otherwise why wouldn't i just book online?
Thirdly, Alain said himself that he was the one who had to make the call, even after my bf had originally asked whether we could do it.

That made Alain's face turn red and he made the phn call.

Air Transat wanted to charge us $200 for each ticket change. I flat refused to pay this, especially after the horrible customer service I received. Alain said he would talk to his manager.

Oh that took weeks: Eric played phn tag with Alain and e-mail tag with the manager.
In the end the manager agreed to pay half the damage. Leaving us with an extra $200 to cough up.

Of course my sweet Eric forked the cash over, cause I was too pissed to toss them a coin.

I'm still in the process of complaining. I'll be writing to Air Transat and Travel Cuts to see if they will reimburse money.

If you have any hints on how to get money out of shitty corporations with lots of money, let me know.

Twitter Blog

While on my trip, I didn't really have time, nor the will to talk about my trip. I did tweet quite a bit more than I thought. Below is all my tweets for the trip, in reverse chronology for those who dont do the tweet thing (twitter is the future my friend, if it's not on twitter it didn't happen!)

# Ottawa: home at last! :)9:34 PM May 22nd from txt

# Montreal: bus is late due to construction6:47 PM May 22nd from txt

# Montreal: plane was delayed 4 hrs- but we will only be home 2 hrs than expected due to bus schedulaling.6:40 PM May 22nd from txt

# Versailles: very worth the trip. you'll have to check out my pics when i [pst them this weekend.2:02 PM May 21st from web

# @karinemyrgianie i would have liked to but unfortunately not enough time!2:01 PM May 21st from web

# @KarineMyrgianie oh poo! i have not had much access to the internet and have been updating by phne. i am no longer in krakow.2:00 PM May 21st from web in reply to KarineMyrgianie

# Paris: escaped the louvre. Notre dame is very very impressive but slightly commercial. Waiting in line to go in tower.8:54 AM May 20th from txt

# Paris: trapped inside the louvre. Many exit signs but no exits.5:36 AM May 20th from txt

# @skerrvy Warsaw was nice but Krakow&surounding area were very impressive. If u make it as far as Warsaw then i totally recomend Krakow too.8:02 AM May 19th from web in reply to skerrvy

# @chewz thanks sweety. i enjoy your feed bakc and it was a joy to see some one we I know.8:00 AM May 19th from web in reply to chewz

# Paris: Today we will be going to Notre Dame. This visit to Paris has been much more plaisant than our initial arrival on the 30th of May7:58 AM May 19th from web

# France: had cafe ecreme w stephanie paris style.6:56 AM May 19th from txt

# France: survived 23hr train ride. actually 24hr b/c of delay. 26hr inc wait time. Currently eating frogs legs.6:53 AM May 19th from txt

# Couchette experience on train cramped and smelly but still quite enjoyable.2:53 PM May 18th from txt

# Last day in Krokow. Tomorrow begins 20 train ride across Europe. Krakow to Berlin day trip. Berlin to Paris night bunker trip.10:33 AM May 17th from web

# Krakow: tour to aushuitz- very solemn and thought provoking. Views of felt made from human hair and suitcases belonging to babies...7:39 AM May 17th from txt

# Olkusz: lunch w family- deliciousness!2:47 PM May 16th from txt

# Krakow: standing in rain looking at desert.2:45 PM May 16th from txt

# Krakow: visit to amazing castels.2:44 PM May 16th from txt

# Krakow: salt mine is super fantastic. Includes amazing salt chaple where one can marry! *hearing bells*1:42 PM May 15th from txt
# Krakow: on city bus tour... Later the salt mines. Then off to meet more family.3:12 AM May 15th from txt

# Krakow: in pizza shop drinking beers w syrop- common in europa.2:06 PM May 14th from txt

# 10 kinds of pierogy, oldest church in warsaw, beautiful back streets, amazing roof garden, and night w beautiful actress.9:30 AM May 14th from txt

# On train to krakow. 3 hours- shortest train ride yet. Wojtek is accompanying us on trip.9:18 AM May 14th from txt

# @chewz hey i'm sitting in your mom's apt as i type this msg!!! ;) she loves you! tonight we will eat many kinds of pierogy.11:33 AM May 13th from web in reply to chewz

# Warsaw: went to 30th floor of soviet tower now Palace of Culture and Science which has terrace for view of city.8:03 AM May 13th from web

# Missed Stephanie in Paris the first time around. Making plans to try again this time. hope it works out.8:01 AM May 13th from web

# Warsaw: finally found a mcdonald's!5:34 AM May 13th from txt

# Warsaw: dinner with family- very stressful due to language barriers, however many lolz and good food.4:03 AM May 13th from txt

# Warsaw: look at interior of kings palace: mirrors, gold, and portraits.11:12 AM May 12th from txt

# got phn number!!!!2:14 PM May 11th from web

# warsaw: @ net caffee 2call Babcia on phone real cheap-like, but forgot last four digits. Cananda411 not allowing search b/c public comp.2:09 PM May 11th from web

# @mugray some do, but not all. now that i'm here in warsaw, i found a fone line in an internet cafe. but the cafe was pretty hard to find!1:53 PM May 11th from web in reply to mugray

# @chewz I will be seeing your mom this wednesday. we are going to eat some pierogy and maybe see some other stuff. It will be good times!!!1:50 PM May 11th from web in reply to chewz

# Warsaw: bus tour... Then fruitless search for mcdonald's despite signs w arrows.1:05 PM May 11th from txt

# Warsaw: family was very nice- showing us around and to our hotel. Refreshing after previous cities on our own.3:57 PM May 10th from txt

# Warsaw: long train ride. Made entire scarf. Welcomed by foreign family- bit awkward.3:51 PM May 10th from txt

# #oddplacenames Mystic Private in Ottawa, Ontario Canada11:42 AM May 9th from web

# Went to Germany's Parlement today. Long line, little to see.11:39 AM May 9th from web

# No Sage club, but Techno instead. Good times in an iconic Euro Techno club.11:39 AM May 9th from web
# Tip from bartender: Off to sage club, nicknamed kit kat- anything goes...4:08 PM May 8th from txt

# Off too see historical camp sachsenhausen.2:34 AM May 8th from txt

# West-Berlin: explored turkish part of town. Plain linen vest e60! Coffee=good11:48 AM May 7th from txt

# Berlin: in 2nd row to see blue man group. We are wearing rain poncho and all :)11:55 AM May 6th from txt

# Berlin- bike tour in rain. Eric continues search for 'fancy' bell for his bike. So far, no luck (day 4 of search).4:42 AM May 6th from web

# East berlin: nice ppl3:23 PM May 5th from txt

# some how i have managed to loose two pairs of pants. I only have two more...3:23 PM May 5th from txt

# @chewz glad to hear that you are enjoying my updates!!15:19 AM May 5th from web in reply to chewz

# Rule of thumb: hostels dont have good coffee.3:45 AM May 5th from txt

# Train to berlin: view of wind farm super up close- could see brand labels.9:44 AM May 4th from txt

# Feeling like causing revenge by baking laxatives into pasta.2:16 PM May 3rd from txt

# Today's Plans: Country bike tour; Heinekin tour !!!! (and laundry? :( but i'm on vaycay...)3:05 AM May 3rd from web

# @chewz It was very entertaining! There was actual live, athletic, sex. but also fun performances like strip tease.3:04 AM May 3rd from web in reply to chewz

# Saw 500 originals of van gogh.5:31 PM May 2nd from txt

# Went to a great non-touristy bar and had some local brew.7:46 PM May 1st from txt

# Watched live sex show!2:43 PM May 1st from txt

# @chewz it is pretty cool!!!! I'll send you a post card from here.!!2:08 PM Apr 30th from web in reply to chewz

# Amsterdam: today is the day of the queen! Every one is in orange.12:58 PM Apr 30th from txt

# On train in belgum: every slab of concrete, every sheet of metal is covered w graffiti in europe.7:26 AM Apr 30th from txt

# Got to paris in record time. But soo tired. No pay phones any where4:43 PM Apr 29th from txt
# Trudeau Airport: flight to Paris. bf spends time reading insurnce fine prnt. I look for places to have sex. bf says mile high club is best.8:27 PM Apr 28th from web

# Keeping busy doing last min chores b4 my bus ride to Airport in Montreal. My bf keeps calling to tell me the new things he's just packed.

Fucking Conspiracy

I can't seem to own a phone for more than two years. If it isn't because I lost it, or smashed it, it's because the phone spontaneously stops working.

On my last phn, the key pad stopped working. Every thing else was fine, but I couldn't dial out cause the key pad was dead.

Now, on my current, and most favorite phn, the charger is busted. the phn works fine, but it's been dead for three days 'cause i cant charge the damn thing.

The conspiracy is that there is a timer in all cells phns, and if you didn't get a new one after two years, the phn spontaneously combusts. Either that, or some elementary function that happens to be key to the usefulness of the phn shuts down.

I *do not* want to buy another phn!!!

Wait, how much is an iPhone?

Euro Memoires: Volume 1

INTRODUCTION

So I suppose I should give you context as to why I decided to go on this trip. I mean, one would not instinctively ask this question, because it is assumed that everyone must do backpacking in Europe, or else they haven't lived. You just aren't a person unless you've lived out of a bag, stayed in hostels, seen tourist attractions, made friends with people who live elsewhere in the world, and learned quirky little facts about foreign countries- all during or shortly after university before you get stuck in what is ironically called 'real life'. Of course, teaching English overseas is an equal substitute for backpacking.

So then, since i dont have a choice of not traveling, the practical question is why did i choose backpacking over teaching english overseas. that, my friends, is a simple question to answer. I simple did not appeal to the idea of spending my day with children named Ruby, who because of their accent call themselves Loopy.


PAST DETERMINES FUTURE

However, my reason for choosing to travel at all is more long-winded than that. I was perfectly content with not going anywhere, since I have for 11 of 12 months an aversion to spending money. However, when my partner Eric said he wanted to go to Germany, I said "Not without me, you're not!"

Now why would I, an independent diva, say a thing like that? Obviously, I have hangups from certain past long-distant relationships [yes you M-Train, and I mean it in the kindest lovingest way cause I cared about you and missed you a lot] and was afraid that my current man would fall in love with Not-Ottawa.

So I says to Eric, I says: "Hey why don't we do that backpacking thing" To which he replied no. He had a more charitable idea of WOOFING, which in a nut shell is working manual labour for room and board. Well, I agreed, and we were looking into that, until someone else told him it would be a good idea for him to backpack across Europe. He approached me with this brilliant idea "That's WHAT I said!!!"" I said. GAWD *queue booming Eric laughter*


I'VE BEEN EVERY WHERE, MAN/ THERE AND BACK AGAIN, MAN

The rest was sorta easy. It just flowed from a couple of starting points:

!. If going to Europe, must visit family in Poland for heritage reasons and to fulfill wishes of Babcia (my grandmother)
@. If going to Europe, must take absolute cheapest flight (which turned out to be Montreal-Pairs)
#. If going to Europe, must go to Amsterdam because I said so.
$. If going to Europe, must go to Germany because Eric said so.
%. All other visits must be on way as our time frame is 3 weeks.

So as you can see with those conditions the entire trip is already planned.
Montreal-Paris-Amsterdam-Berlin-Warsaw-Krakow

Superlatives II

Longest train ride:
Trip from Krakow to Paris.

From the time the train departed to the time we arrived in Paris, it was 26hrs. 24hrs were spent on the train itself. It actually wasn't so bad, especially the over night part in the couchettes. It was really romantic to travel like they did in the good old days. This trip was more pleasant than our flight back to Canada which was 7.5 in flight, 15.5hrs total from Paris to Ottawa. The flight offered two movies ('Yes Man' and '7 Pounds') a meal and a snack, and yet this didn't compare to the lovely experience on the train with the couchettes.

Worst hostel
3Ducks in Paris

The only redeeming quality of this hostel was that it had good coffee. none of the other hostels or hotel offered a good tasting coffee. However, everything else about the hostel sucked.

Items of distaste:

1. the shower had no temperature control. the only option was scalding hot, and a button had to be pushed to turn it on. On top of that, there was no where to place one's soap, so that one would have to clasp the soap in one hand, cup scalding water in the other and splash it on ones body. It was the worst shower I have ever come across in my life!
2. the breakfast was an awful tasting croissant, a dry bun, and a choice of two different jams. it was the lamest brekky of all the others.
3. the place was in courtyard style, which seems nice at first, until you can hear the drunk gurls trying to sing (they think they sound good) you never have an opera singer try to sing when they're drunk, but for some reason gurls like to sing Disney songs when they get plastered.
4. They make you pay for your sheets. Some places require a deposit, but 3Ducks keeps your money and the sheets smell like bleach.
5. The whole place needs upkeep. I mean it's cute that every thing is old fashioned, but I don't think water damage on the floors or soil mattresses that are sunken in, or pigeon pooped decks or skittles from past clients on the floor, or dirty dingy walls in stairwells really contribute to the atmosphere of the hostel.
6. They dont have lockers. All the other hostels had lockers that you could use as long as you had a padlock. Here, if you had a shared room you must keep your belonging at the mercy of strangers.
7. The staff sucked for the most part. The only exception was a Brazilian who was studying in the arts, but all other staff were grumpy and/or didn't know any information.

Worst Attraction
The Louvre, in Paris

Yes, I went. No, I didn't like it. I saw the Mona Lisa, and that was no more special than any of the other treasures in the place. In fact there were so many that I just sorta got board. Also, the exhibits are not really placed in such a way that they are well displayed. There is really just too much shit there. We also payed an extra five euro to see the temporary exhibits, however, there were none at that time. No one warned us of this, in fact staff even directed us to the places were they would be on display, no one even knew they weren't on display and charged us for it. We also could not escape the museum to eat. there are a million emergency exit signs. One sign will point you down a stair well, and as you descent, there is another sign point up from whence you came. Finally when we found a place to eat, there was but 12 tables to sit at, while an empty cafeteria lay just beyond, reserved only for those willing to pay for food. I hate the Louvre.

Superlatives

Best hostel:
Sunflower Hostel in Berlin.

This hostel was nice and had good atmosphere. You did have to buy the breakfast for 3 Euro, but it was all you can eat with deli meats, cheese, three kinds of bread, three kinds of cereal, several interesting kinds of spreads, and several kinds of fruits. Also, there breakfast time was the longest of all hostels. The rooms were nice and clean. They were eco-conscious; staff was friendly and knowledgeable; it was quite quiet and had laundry on site.

Best breakfast:
Mazoviecki Hotel in Warsaw.

This was a "Sweedish Bar" which is similar to buffet. It has a bunch of cold items on a table which you can select from. Every day the items elaborate, different and delicious.

Most beautiful city:
Krakow, Poland.

This was by far the most beautiful city of all- even more than Paris, way more charming than Paris.

Most interesting attraction:
Wieliczka Salt Mines near Krakow.

This is a very large salt mine, which no longer mines for salt rock. It contains 200 chapels. We saw 2% of the salt mine and saw three chapels. There is this amazing chapel carves from the salt rock made by only three men, and is beautiful enough to get married in!

Most exciting show:
Blue Man Group in Berlin.

What can I say, they were absolutely AMAZING! It was just so well done with the acting and the drumming and the joking! Gawd, an ear to ear grin. I liked it even better than the Broadway Monty Python.

Most Bicycles:
Amsterdam

There was soooo many bikes that is was overwhelming. There wasn't enough space to rack all the bikes. In fact, there were entire bike parking lots!!! I also got hit by a bike :(

Strangest thing:
I think the strangest thing was seeing a man in Amsterdam riding a bicycle. He had a baby seat in the back with a baby in it (that's not the weird part). He had another baby which was sitting (nay! sleeping!) on the handle bars which he was holding up with one hand while steering with is other!!!!!!!!! The more unbelievable thing is that the area is so packed with ppl and bicycles, and one can only imagine that one is would be pushing luck to carry a baby on a handle bar with so many stops and starts.

Eurotrip

If you've been following my twitter, then you already know about some of the little tidbits from my journey. However, 140 characters is not enough to really explore my observations. I have quite a few things to decant. If only I had some way of writing down my observations and then publishing them so that my friends could easily access my observations.

Hey! Wait a minute. I happen to have this Blog quite conveniently entitled "Observation".

Nice.

I think the first thing I will do is some superlatives. Then in future posts I tell anecdotes and stories.

As for pictures, I've got some from my phn which are digital and some from my cousin Wojciech (pronounced Voy-stek). The other pics where taken with an old camera, you know, the kind with film. Some times it takes me no less than half a year to pic it up from the store once it's developed, so don't hold your breath.

S'all for now.

Travels in Europe FAQ

Just thought I'd clear up a few questions you had. Next time I'll do this in advance and forward this link to anyone one who cares to take interest in my travels. lol

When are you leaving?
April 28th at 3pm.

How long are you going for?
Three weeks.

Where are you going?
Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Warsaw, and Krakow

Are you excited?
Yes.

(and to a lesser extent)

Where will you be staying?
In hostels and hotels and visiting family.

Will you go to the Louvre?
Probably not, but maybe.

Which airline are you flying with?
Transat.

Today's Lesson: When 'small talk' is your job, you dont want to do it in your spare time.

Chrons and Colitis Foundation of Canada

The new website has just come out for the declaration to help support those living with Chrons and Colitis (ie. ME).

This chronic illness lowers quality of life and affect individuals at their prime! There is no cure.

Please sign this declaration below or click the title of this blog for the link to the website.

Twitter

So I had signed up to twitter a while ago, but didn't really get into it. The account just sort of sat around. Recently, I decided to try it out again. I'm not really sure was sprung me on it. But I think it had something to do with YouTube and the numerous videos that users are putting out on the subject.

Since I first joined twitter many new applications have been designed to make twitter a more interesting place to be a part of. Titter is basically a status update. Sort of like your msn status or your FB status. In fact, FB has recently redesigned their site to look more like twitter. The rule of twitter is that your update must be contained in 140 characters.

A hard thing for me is that I have rarely anything that is interesting enough to say in 140 characters. Most of the time I feel like I need a good elaboration, which is why my blogs are a great place for me to be.

However, I do like getting updates from other people. For example all the politicians have twitter, and for those that like to follow stars, just about all the famous ppl have twitter. I personally like to follow CBCNews (the also have CNN for example) and they update all the great head lines as they happen. If you want to know more then you can click on the link for the article.

Another interesting aspect is the inter-media opportunity where Stephen Colbert used twitter while interviewing the co-founder of Twitter. Of course the whole thing was very witty. This way you could watch the show and watch him twitter at the same time.

Not to mention, Twitter is becoming the new social microphone. Ppl can ask questions during events without being present. Some conferences like w2e were held entirely on twitter.

Then again Twitter can just be pure fun. On search.twitter.com you can look up Twilight or #twilight and read all the tweets from teenage gurlies out there who are watching the movie on dvd (again).

I'm a fan of twitter, I think it has some great potential.
Click the title of this blog to visit my profile.

Today's Lesson: Micro updates of your trivial life are changing the vary fabric of how we communicate with each other.

Yet Another Blog

I know I have too many blogs for the amount of interest that I generate, but this one I think is a good one to have. For a long time I have been wondering how to brand myself. And for even longer than that, I have been trying to keep my on-line life separate from my physical life.

The problem is that I don't think I have anything worth branding. So for a long time I had trouble with that. Actually, the real problem was that I was trying to brand somebody that I wasn't (yet). I have spent a considerable amount of time trying to brand my art in order to make way for some part time artsy career. The fact of the matter is that that wasn't what I do. I work in a bank every day; I volunteer every week; I certainly don't consistently do art every day. So this new website is meant to brand who I am now. I may eventually get a domain name, but for now it's a superfluous link lol.

So I've added a link, you just have to click on the title of this blog and it will bring you to the site, or alternatively, you can find it under ~blogaholic

New Look! and Mid Year Resolutions!

NEW LOOK

Check it! I've changed the blog colours, it's still the same layout, but I've moved some stuff around and added a twitter feed. I don't know why I keep the new follow gadjet, cause no one EVER looks at my blog- except Ryan lol!

Anyhow, this is it.

MID YEAR RESO

I must say I am pretty proud of myself for 2008. Not only did I make and meet my New Year Goals, but I totally exceeded them!

I really wasn't into making any this year, but now that a few months have passed, I think I'd like to make sure my blog does not suffer this year. I find that the past couple of years my posts have not been of the same quality nor as frequent.

New Goal:
~At least one post per week and
~Must be interesting

Ways you can encourage me:
~Post comments on my blog(s)
~"Follow" me on blogger or twitter

Today's Lesson: Adsence doesn't make sence when you don't make cents.

Funny Street Name

In Ottawa there is a street called Mystic Private. This Mystic Pvt is just near Uplands Dr and Riverside Dr. *I* want to live on said Mystic Private, sounds delicious. lol

DOUBLE OR DIE

I had a really weird dream last night. And included in the dream was this game. It seems to be a mix of gambling games... I'll post the rules below and you can tell me if there are any loop holes. Try it out and let me know. FRIENDS BEWARE: I'm making you try this game at our next gathering.

DOUBLE OR DIE

OBJECT OF THE GAME: to win money

TO START: the person who got up the earliest that day can start the first game. This person will roll a die. The number that appears is the ‘safe’ number for this game.

THE GAME: Every person who would like to be included in the game puts in one token including the person who rolled the ‘safe’ number. Once every one puts in there first token, the person to the left of the ‘safe’ roller begins by rolling two dice. If one of the dice is the ‘safe’ number, that person can stay in THAT ROUND without an additional bet. If the person rolls a 12 they win the pot. If a 2 is rolled they loose the game and must contributed 2 tokens to the pot. If a number above the ‘safe’ number is rolled the player puts in 2 tokens and remains for that round. If a number below the ‘safe’ number is rolled the player is out of this game.

WINNING: Once someone rolls a 12 or is the last person standing, they win the pot.

NEW GAME: the person to the left of the original ‘safe’ roller will roll for the second game. Etc.